


He Can't Help But Dance Along

by LockWhoSuper



Category: Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bookstore, Artist Steve Rogers, Dancing, M/M, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Social Media
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-28
Updated: 2015-03-28
Packaged: 2018-03-20 00:32:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3630000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LockWhoSuper/pseuds/LockWhoSuper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve believes in the logic of him not being able to see someone means that no one can see him, he couldn't of been more wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	He Can't Help But Dance Along

**Author's Note:**

> I found this idea from Tumblr. The original prompt is: "You suck at dancing but you're doing it in the middle of a book store to the crappy music on the radio and I think it's pretty damn cute." 
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or any of the characters.

Steve was stuck. It was stuffy inside and his "inspiring" playlist was beginning to feel overplayed. Steve felt he should rename it to "uninspiring". Nothing was turning out quiet the way he imagined it and if he had to look at his easel one more time today he was going to dump a can of black paint over it and toss it in the dumpster. Steve wasn't sure if artists could get writers block. Painters block? Probably, considering he was experiencing it right now, but it wasn't important. The only important thing was getting the hell out of his studio. 

Steve tossed his dirty paintbrush into his sink filled with other dirty paintbrushes and took a step back, then another, and another until he was slipping his wallet into the back pocket of his jeans and locking up his studio behind him. The fresh air instantly made him feel 100 times better and the bright sun was warm on his skin. Standing on his doorstep, Steve wondered if he should call Sam or Peggy, to see if they wanted to hang out. But that idea sounded unappealing once he thought about it and decided to take a walk alone instead. People said hello to him on the street when they passed and Steve said hello back, stopping once or twice to pat a dog and to have polite conversations with strangers about the weather. 

Steve had probably only walked for half an hour but he found himself turning onto an unfamiliar street. It wasn't a dangerous neighborhood or anything but dread still filled his gut when he realized he was lost. There were a couple of girls across the street that he could ask directions from, but he didn't want to feel like he was hassling them. Two stores down was a friendly looking bookstore and Steve continued down the unfamiliar street towards it, he could ask for directions and look for something new to read at the same time. 

The interior of the bookstore was nice and cool when he stepped inside. A little bell alerted his presence to a man with stunning brown eyes, a messy bun and a perfect jaw behind the counter who gave him a small welcoming smile and a subtle once over. Steve blushed and averted his eyes. Quickly, Steve side stepped behind an overflowing shelf of books to hide. 

Bucky was having a slow day. Tuesday's, as an unspoken rule, were always slow days and he used his abundance of free time to play games on his phone and to snap chat. The little bell above his front door jolted him back from an intense game of Angry Bird and Bucky was delighted to see a _hot_ customer entering his store. The smile that twitched at his lips was a real one. Not one of the fake ones reserved specifically for middle aged ladies looking for Fifty Shades Of Grey. He'd actually taken the time to print a little sign saying that he didn't sell 50 Shades, and that he never would because he didn't support the idea of romanticizing abuse relationships. Bucky also gave the really fricken attractive customer an appreciative look, and he hid a grin behind his hand when his customer darted behind some shelves. Shelves that were strategically placed so Bucky could see his customers but his customers couldn't see him. It was easier to catch thieves and stop couples exploring their voyeurism kink in among his precious books. 

Steve, behind the safety of the shelves, willed his blush to go away and pulled at his hair a little. Steve knew that he was aesthetically pleasing to most people, the amount of advances be got from both genders was kind of a dead give away. Plus he was a confident guy. Sometimes. And without wanting to sound vain, he just _knew_ that he was attractive. He didn't use to be, back when he was a kid and sickly. Though by some miracle, during his senior year he had hit an unexpected growth spurt, gained over 100 pounds and people finally looked at him, not through him. Flirtatious advances is still something that Steve's terrible at so he focuses his attention on finding himself something good to read and maybe something for Peggy to bribe her with while he was at it. He needed a new model for another set of paintings. He'd have to butter her up before she agreed. 

He hasn't been in the store long when he notices that there's music coming from somewhere. _It's probably the radio_ , Steve thinks while he listens to the music. It's kind of crappy and most of the songs are modern ones that Sam likes to listen to, so he bobs his head to the familiar beat and sometimes mouths along to the lines he knows. He's reading the blurb of a randomly selected book when Peggy's favorite song comes on the radio. Steve doesn't know what it's called or who the artist is, but Peggy drilled him the lyrics until he knew everyone off by heart and she taught him a couple of dance moves to go along with it. Steve can't help but dance along to the song when it reaches its first chorus. He knows he's a terrible dancer because he always manages somehow to step on dames toes but he didn't see anyone when he briefly looked around to make sure the coast was clear. The store was still empty, minus him and Mr. Perfect Jaw at the counter but he can't see the counter from where he's standing and he brakes out into the first move believing in the logic of I can't see anyone so nobody must be able to see me. 

Steve was wrong of course. 

After completing his round of Angry Bird with an astonishing low score, Bucky closed the app and checked his snap chat. On Natasha's story there was a short video of Clint chasing a very wet dog off of their bed with the bath emoticon and Bucky sent her an exaggerated "HAHAHAHA" followed with the word shame. Moments later she replied with a selfie of her sticking her tongue out at him with a "you suck" caption. Bucky sent off a quick "you love me" with lots of hearts and she ignored him for a solid five minuets before asking him what he was doing. Bucky told her that he had a customer along with the heart eyes emoticon and she "DEMANDED PICTURES". He grinned and looked around his store for the handsome customer. Said handsome customer was by the mystery section doing something weird with his arms. Bucky sat up in his chair, worried that his handsome customer was having a seizure or something. Watching for a few seconds longer, Bucky confirmed that it wasn't a seizure but he was confused as heck to what the hell the guy was doing. It took another few seconds for it to click that the guy was _dancing_. Some crappy pop song was playing over the radio and this guy was _dancing_ to it. If you could even call t _that_ dancing. It wasn't any style that Bucky had ever seen and he was having a hard time keeping the rising bubble of laughter in his throat under check while he watched his attractive customer bust a move. 

Bucky was quietly loosing his shit because 290 pounds of the American dream was tearing it up on an invisible dance floor in the middle of his store, and Bucky spends half the song deciding whether or not to film his attractive customer and post him on YouTube or on his mediocre, amateur vine account that only had like, 12 followers. He settles on filming a few videos on snap chat and sending them to Natasha and Clint. They're kind of grainy because he had to zoom in a little but they're still hilarious. 

He gets a reply from Clint almost instantly. It's a selfie of him caught mid laugh and his dogs sitting on the floor over his shoulder giving Clint the side eyes. Bucky manages to screen shot it. He'll show Clint later and they'll laugh at it until they have abs. 

Bucky wonders if he should put on some good music for this guy to dance to, but he also feels like if he changes this guys music he'll fuck up his vibe and his handsome customer will run away embarrassed and never step foot out in public again. The more Bucky watches the guy obviously enjoying himself, the more he finds his dancing endearing the guys kind of cute when he's doing the robot? Bucky's not too sure what it's suppose to be. The cha-cha? One man tango? Bucky takes another video for snap chat and sends it just when the music stops and adds for the local mechanic start playing. 

Steve drops out of funk with a couple of dizzy steps and a smile that makes his jaw hurt. When he zones back into his surroundings completely he looks around quickly to see if anyone had wondered into the store during his kind of embarrassing display of sucky dance moves. He can't see anyone when he darts his eyes around and checks over his shoulder. Steve relaxes and picks up the random book he selected and added it to his small pile of books. It was about a spy and had a half naked dame on the cover, he was sure that Peggy would enjoy it but it made him blush so he slips it to the bottom of his small pile and wondered around some more. 

When he has a medium sized pile of books clutched to his chest, Steve makes his way to the front of the store. Bucky was watching him approach from behind the shelves and he pushed his phone to the side of the counter and waited for his handsome customer to weave his way over to him. 

Bucky's wearing a long sleeve to cover his prosthetic arm. Most days it doesn't bother him but on the days he looks a little too hard in the mirror he gets self conscious about it. So when his handsome customer gives him a friendly grin and doesn't even double take at his chrome plated prosthetic he relaxes and happily scans the guys items. 

"Find everything you need?" Bucky asks out of habit and his handsome customer perks up at the idea of polite chit-chat and grins. 

"Yes, I did. Thank you." Bucky continues to scan books and he types a few things into his computer, ignoring the way his phones lighting up with notifications from Natasha beside the mouse. 

"You have a wide variety," Steve mentions casually and Bucky smirks. 

"Yeah, s'better if there's _a lot_ of books instead of only a handful like you see sometimes. It's depressing and totally puts the fine art of book store owning to shame." Steve laughs and Bucky flicks his eyes up to watch his handsome customers Adams apple bob in his throat. 

Bucky reaches the last book in the pile and his handsome customer blushes faintly and stares off pointedly in the other direction. 

"This ones not so bad." Bucky says to draw his handsome customer back into the conversation. 

"Oh, it's uh-" Steve blush darkens, "for a friend." 

Bucky "uh-huhs" and rings up his handsome customers total. Steve manages to hand over exact change and he nods when he's offered a plastic bag. As Bucky's printing of his handsome customers receipt he decided that he would like to see the cute terrible dancer again, so he writes his number on the bottom of the receipt discretely and tucks it inside the " for a friend" book. 

Taking his plastic bag full of books, handsome customer thanks Bucky sincerely and wishes him a good rest of his day and Bucky returns it with a small wave the flirtiest grin that he can muster up. When his handsome customers completely out of Bucky's sight, Bucky takes a few deep breaths to still his heart and checks his phone. 

He has 30 seconds of snaps waiting for him from Natasha and one from Clint. He opens Clint's first and snorts at his friends middle finger for taking that screen shot and then he clicks through Nat's, laughing at her antics and silly faces. He replies with a couple of heart eye emoticons telling her that he gave the smoking hot terrible dancer his number. Clint and Natasha send a selfie together from Nat's account with a party hat emoticon and then Nat texts him, inviting him over for Chinese food. 

Meanwhile, Steve walked away with a pleasant smile on his face and he had walked a few blocks before he realized that he never ended up asking for directions. Whispering a curse under his breath, Steve pulls out his phone and spends a few agonizing minutes trying to work Google Maps. Once he has his "you are here" location, he's surprised to find that the bookstore he just exited was almost literally in his studios backyard. It's a wonder that he hasn't stumbled upon it before or run into the owner in the supermarket. It takes him only a handful of minutes to make his way back to his studio and the doors unlocked when he gets there. 

Sam and Peggy are sitting on his couch and watching his Netflix when he walks in. There's a few bottles of beer on his coffee table and Peggy's heals are discarded hazardously on the floor. 

"Hey guys, come on in! Kick of your shoes, make yourself at home. Do you want a beer?" Steve said sarcastically as he plopped himself into an armchair overflowing with cushions. 

"Why thank you, Steve!" He badly imitated Peggy and she shot him a dirty look. Her brunette curls bouncing on her shoulders. 

Sam withdrew his eyes from the T.V. "Hey man". Steve rolled his eyes and Sam turned his attention back to the T.V with a smirk. 

"What's in the bag, Steve?" Peggy asked, and Steve fished in the bag for her book. The rustling plastic made Sam groan, annoyed that he couldn't hear what the hell was happening on the T.V and Steve grinned to himself. 

"Books?" Peggy said in surprise when Steve handed over her spy novel. She muttered a distracted thanks as she read the blurb and then opened it. Steve's receipt fell out onto her lap and she picked it up with her red painted nails and collapsed into a random, startling, bout of giggles. 

Sam raised an eyebrow and leaned over, invading Peggy's personal space to read the receipt himself. Sam reads the receipt that was clearly not intended for Peggy. Sam slaps his knees when he reads it and throws he head back, his laugh filling Steve's studio and drowning out Steve's "what? What's so funny?" 

Sam's laughing so hard that he can't hand over the receipt so Steve has to fetch it himself. There's a phone number and a complement of Steve's cute dancing skills scrawled in pen at the bottom of his receipt. Steve goes bright red and his ears are flaming with embarrassment because someone was watching him. The worst possible someone because Steve's gone and made a fool of himself in front of Mr. Perfect Jaw. But there's a number so Steve hadn't completely scared the guy off with his ''slick moves''. 

"What is so funny?" Asks Steve a little annoyed. His two best friends are still getting their jollies at his expense which was so not cool. 

"We know what your dancing looks like, Steve!" Says Peggy between gulps of air. They were cooling down from their fit and Sam slapped his knee just a few times while he caught his breath and Steve just flushed horribly and threw couch cushions at them both.


End file.
